The United States is spending $92 million to build Afghanistan a new â€œPentagon,â€ a massive five-story military headquarters with domed roofs and a high-tech basement command center that will link Afghan generals with their troops fighting the Taliban across the country.

But when Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak asked for a bigger office in the building â€” a change that would cost about $300,000 â€” he got a firm â€œnoâ€ in response. These types of changes cost time and money, U.S. military officials said, and in Afghanistan both are in ever-shorter supply.